Most Candy in New York
by The Lazy way
Summary: Eight-year-old Clary and best friend Simon have a little contest on Halloween. Whoever gets the most candy by the time the sun goes down wins. A pretty mundane Halloween spent between childhood friends.


"C'mon, Simon!" Eight-year-old Clary Fray laughed, whirling around to face her friend so fast that her own curly pigtails hit her in the face.

It was October 31st- Halloween. Clary Fray and Simon Lewis, with their mothers and Simon's siblings in tow, were making their way through Brooklyn collecting as much candy as they could before dark. Clary's bag was already beginning to weigh here down, but she refused to go home and empty her bag- she knew her mom would come up for an excuse to stay home. Jack-o'-lanterns lit front porches, and the smell of dying leaves was surprisingly refreshing. It was cold enough that the kid's breaths could be seen in front of their faces, but no one minded. All the girls clad in princess dresses and whatever would fit over their parkas held tightly to their mothers' hands, while boys dressed in, well, whatever with mustaches drawn on their faces shouted and sang into the cool night air.

"I am!" Simon replied, but it was muffled by the plastic fangs in his mouth. Simon was going as a vampire- his mom had even put face paint on him, complete with a fake dribble of blood at the corner of his mouth. When Clary, whom was going as an artist, saw it and asked her mother for some fake blood she had been refused.

"It'll ruin your costume, Clary." She had said. There wasn't much to ruin. It was a button down shirt with paint splattered all over it, and a few paintbrushes tapped inside the pocket (taped so they wouldn't fall out, Jocelyn had said). Jocelyn had splashed some green paint onto Clary's cheek though, and a glop of blue had gotten into her hair.

Simon's siblings weren't as into trick-or-treating as the younger kids, but they had come along anyway. Sometimes they'd ask about what kind of candy they got at a certain house, or call dibs on a chocolate bar. "You've _gotta' _stop at the Humphreys' house- they _always_ give out a bunch of candy- handfuls of it! And full sized candy bars and a can drink. Plus you get to pick it! How they don't run out of candy, I don't know." Rebecca piped up.

"Where is it?" Jocelyn asked, not wanting to have to hail a cab to the other side of the city just so her kid could get a candy bar.

"Just up the street a little. It's kind of a pink color." Rebecca pointed to it, and it was in fact pretty near. Jocelyn relaxed, and fell back into a conversation with Simon's mom.

"I'm gonna' have the biggest candy stash in all of New York City!" Clary proclaimed, throwing her arms up and lifting her heavy bag to prove her point. Her red pigtails bounced as she walked, and were a bright fiery color as they caught the last of the sunset's rays.

"We went to all the same houses, I'll have the same size bag as you." Simon reminded, lifting his pillowcase the same way Clary had.

"No, when we went to pick you guys up, we stopped at _three houses_! So I have three houses more candy than you." Clary shot back. She was not going to be outdone. She wanted to have the most candy in all of New York City- she wanted so much candy that the M&M store would come to her when they were out of stock! She did not want to be outdone by her friend.

"Yeah well . . ." Simon pushed his glasses up his nose. "I bet I can go to more houses than you before sundown! And whoever wins . . . wins!" Simon nodded after proclaiming his challenge, and crossed his skinny arms over his chest.

"Deal!" Clary agreed. She stuck her hand out, only her fingertips stuck out from the sleeves of her shirt, and Simon shook it firmly once.

"So, we'll start on three, okay?" Clary said, noting that they were at the beginning of the street. They'd only have time for the one. "one . . . two . . ."

"Threeokaygo!" Simon shouted, before taking off down the sidewalk.

"Huh? No- hey, wait!" Clary took off after him a second later, hurrying across the street to take the houses opposite him. Jocelyn quickly noticed their absences, and sucked in a breath. She couldn't stand the thought of losing her daughter on such a night. Even when she saw Clary's bright red hair stopping at a house she didn't feel completely okay.

"Clary, be careful!" Jocelyn yelled after them, but she wasn't sure if her daughter heard her.

"Trick or treat!" Clary shouted as a man opened his door. She held her bag wide open and gave him a bright smile.

"Ah, what a cutie . . . are you out here all alone? You shouldn't be out alone Missy, it's dangerous." The old man said. _Sheesh, I just want to beat Simon, not talk_, Clary mentally complained.

"No, not alone. My Mom and my friend and my friend's mom is out here." Clary gushed. She wanted to look over her shoulder to see how far ahead Simon was, but fought the urge. The man nodded, and instead turned around to get a bag of chips off a pile.

"My granddaughter is out trick-or-treating with her daddy tonight. She's about your age. Maybe she goes to school with you. Do you know a Natalie Parks? Oh- no she goes to school on the other side of the city, I forgot. Ha, ha. Never mind." The man said, all the while having his back to Clary as he dug around for a bag of chips that wasn't crushed. The little girl couldn't help bouncing on her feet a little, wishing he'd hurry up. Finally, he turned back around to face her.

"Here you go Missy-" Clary grabbed it out of his surprised hand before he even finished talking. She dropped it into her bag and smiled quickly at him, already turning to leave. She was not risking losing to Simon because she stopped to talk.

"Thank you! Happy Halloween!" She yelled over her shoulder, running back down the tiny concrete path that led from his door to the sidewalk, and then down the sidewalk to the next house.

Clary could see that the talkative old man and her late start had cost her two houses, as Simon was already farther ahead. _Darn it_!

Clary ran to the next house. Technically she was still in the lead, because of the three houses she got before. But it was only one house. She could easily loose-

"Oof!" Clary yelped as she hit the concrete. She had tripped over a large uneven crack in the sidewalk, one she hadn't noticed. She had managed to throw her hands out in time to catch herself, but her knee had still hit it pretty hard.

With a quick glance across the street, she saw that she had now lost the house to Simon. No. Now they were tied. Clary scampered to her feet and threw herself towards the next house. She didn't let them stop for small talk, but instead hurried from one house to the next.

She kept pace with Simon- whenever he sped up she'd speed up, and whenever she sped up he'd speed up. Neither were prepared to lose. Not for anything.

They raced down the streets with such speed that a few passerbyers stopped to watch their little competition. A few people even started cheering when the young kids got their candy. It was a contest, and now they had an audience. Clary caught Simon's eye once as they were both moving to a new house, and they had giggled at the surprise support.

When Clary reached the last house on her side, she smiled. She was panting from all the running, and jogged up to the last door in relief. She knocked on the door, and let out a weak, breathless "trick or treat!" A young woman opened the door, handed Clary a can of coke, and that was it.

The red-head cheered.

"I won! I won!" She yelped, jumping up and down. She clutched the victory can so tightly that it might have crushed.

Clary looked over for Simon, maybe to rub it in his face, but was surprised to see that he wasn't at his last house. He was standing in between the last and second last house, starring at the houses on Clary's side of the street. She was confused for a moment, before realizing he was counting. She could see his mouth moving as he mouthed each word

_. . . Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve_. And then he stopped. Twelve houses. He looked down his own row, and began counting them as well. He even lifted his finger to point at each house as he counted. . . . eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen . . . sixteen. Then he stopped. Sixteen houses.

Simon's row had four more. Three of them he'd caught up to Clary with, but the last one . . . he hadn't done anything with. He hadn't gone to the last house. They were tied- but there was one more house left. The tiebreaker.

Clary and Simon's eyes met, and then flickered to the one remaining house- the Humphreys'.

Clary took off first. She ran into the street- she was sure her mother probably had a heart attack at the sight- and across, just hoping to get to the last house before Simon. Simon, meanwhile, had stepped on his cape and tripped. By the time he got untangled and standing again, Clary was now on his side of the street.

They both ran to the house, and Clary was the first one to step onto the house's concrete path that led to the door. Simon grabbed a fistful of her shirt in an attempt to hold her back, but the small girl fought him off.

"I want to win!" She yelled at him, shoving angrily at him whilst trying to run forward. Simon grabbed her elbow and used his leverage to pull him forward and in front.

"I want to win too!" He called back. He had almost reached the front step when Clary suddenly collided with his back and sent Simon flying to the ground. She had tackled him in order to prevent him from getting there first. Now that's dedication.

Honestly, the tackle had hurt Clary more than she thought it would. She groaned, and pushed herself off Simon, whom was whimpering. "Ow . . . I think you broke my glasses." He muttered, shoving himself off the ground as soon as he didn't have a Clary on his back anymore.

"Sorry." Clary blushed. She had kind of gotten ahead of herself. She held out her hand, as both a truce and to help Simon up. He starred at it, suspended there in the air for a moment, before he reached for it.

"Oh!" A woman's voice interrupted them both, and the kids turned to look at the aging woman on the front step. "There's still some more trick-or-treaters, hmm? Well, I'm sorry kiddies, but we're all out of candy tonight."

Clary and Simon blinked. They had gone through all the trouble, only to have to end in a tie? They turned and starred at each other, as if waiting to see how the other person would react. They ended up laughing. Simon had chuckled, and then Clary giggled, and soon they were laughing and howling on the poor confused woman's front line like a couple of wolves.

Clary once again offered her hand to Simon, and he took it. She helped him to his feet, they grabbed their stuff, and turned to find their families waiting at the end of the short drive. The kids could just see the sun go down behind their parents heads.

"Next year," Clary mumbled as they walked home. "I'm gonna' have the most candy in New York City."

Simon grinned at her. "Not if I have anything to do with it, Fray."

**Hi. Had this on my mind for a while. Bye.**


End file.
